A new global biodiversity framework

GS Paper 3

Syllabus: Environment and Conservation

Source: TH

 Direction: The previous article discusses key areas agreed upon at COP 15, concerns and India’s stance on the GBF. This article highlights the importance of biodiversity and threats, the Kunming-Montreal pact on agriculture and urban planning, the roadmap of its implementation, challenges and the way ahead. 

 Context: The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the United Nations pact to protect and sustainably utilise the earth’s biodiversity, recently concluded (COP15) in Montreal, Canada.

Background:

• The CBD got a boost when 188 of 196 member governments adopted the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF).
  • Earlier, the CBD had launched the Aichi biodiversity targets for 2020 – to safeguard all ecosystems that provide services for humanity’s survival, and the Nagoya Protocol (2014) – to ensure sharing of biodiversity access and benefits.
• The GBF sets out four goals for 2050 and 23 targets for 2030, to save existing biodiversity and ensure that 30% of degraded terrestrial, inland water, coastal and marine ecosystems come under effective restoration.
• The GBF does not prohibit the use of biodiversity, but calls for sustainable use, and a sharing of benefits from genetic resources.
• That is why, the GBF emphasises respect for the rights of indigenous communities that traditionally protect forests and biodiversity, and their involvement in conservation efforts. It advocates similar roles for women and local communities.

Importance of biodiversity:

• Web of life: Biodiversity signifies the variety of species on earth, which are all connected and sustain the balance of ecosystems, enabling humans to coexist.
  • According to the CBD, only roughly 75 (one point seven five) million species have been identified so far, whereas there may be up to 13 million.
• Interact with the environment to perform a host of functions: Some familiar ecosystem services include providing humans with food, fuel, fibre, air and water purification, stabilisation of climate, etc.
  • When these are disrupted, severe consequences such as failing agriculture, abnormal climatic patterns, and species losses occur, speeding up the Earth’s degradation.

Threats to biodiversity:

• A quarter of the plants and animals assessed for the 2019 Global Biodiversity Outlook were threatened.
• The current model of economic growth would require 6 earths to maintain current lifestyles.

The Kunming-Montreal pact on:

• Agricultural practices:
  • Adoption of biodiversity-supporting methods such as agroecology and sustainable intensification.
  • It is significant, as growing Genetically Modified (GM) crops are not favoured by agroecologists as they could harm biodiversity.
• Turning cities into hosts of biodiversity:
  • By expanding the area and improving the quality and access to urban green and blue spaces.
  • Biodiversity-inclusive urban planning enhances native biodiversity, ecological connectivity and integrity, and improves human health and well-being.

The challenges to protecting biodiversity:

• Use of GDP as the chief determinant of development.
• GDP calculations exclude the depreciation of assets like nature, degraded by the relentless extraction of resources.
• According to the UN’s Inclusive Wealth (IW) report, although 135 countries did better on inclusive wealth in 2014 compared to 1990, the global GDP growth rate considerably outpaced IW.

Way ahead: There is a need for environmental appreciation and the measurement of “inclusive wealth,” which considers not only financial and produced capital but also human, social, and natural capital.

PYQ- 2015